


The Tale of the Trevelyan

by barkspawnvevo



Category: Dragon Age, Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Includes quotes from the game
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-14
Updated: 2016-01-18
Packaged: 2018-03-17 19:56:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3541937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/barkspawnvevo/pseuds/barkspawnvevo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nova Trevelyan had been living in the Ostwick Circle of Magi since she was a child. Her family's wealth and the Circle's sedate reputation gave her a chance to keep in touch with her family: a chance many mages don't get. She thought her life was planned out. She would gain a position in the Circle, she would find a significant other in the Circle, she would live her whole life in the Circle. But destiny intervened in a form of the Conclave. The attempt to put an end to the war raging between templars and mages ended in catastrophe, and from the people attended only Nova was left standing. This set a course of her whole life to change along with the world and here is the story how.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. And the walls came tumbling down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The lyrics in the title are from Bastille's Pompeii.

_My head. It hurts like hell._ That was the first thought that was in Nova Trevelyan's head as she woke up. She expected to wake up from her bunk in the Circle, to see all her friends still sleeping around her making soft sniffling sounds that would soon send her back to sleep aswell. But if she was in her own bed, why on Earth was her head hanging low? _I am on my knees_ , was her next thought. There was a weird, burning feeling on her left hand. She turned her gaze to look. All the way from between her middle and ring fingers to her wrist was a slit. The slit glowed faintly green. As she turned her hand to examine it closely, the slit seemed to set on fire. The green glow grew stronger and she gasped out in pain. Almost in the same second the door in front of her was kicked open and two women stepped inside and the open doorway let in some light. It was only then when Nova realized she had not been in the room alone: all the time she had been surrounded by a group of guards with their swords pointing at her. One of the women, black-haired, dressed in mail with a logo that Nova faintly saw and recognized as the one of the Seekers of Truth, walked around her.   
"Tell me why I shouldn't kill you now", she said, with her head practically next to Nova's ear. "The Conclave is destroyed. Everyone who attended are dead. Except for you.". No clear thought travelled in Nova's head. _A lot of people have died and I'm suspected for their deaths. But if everyone else in the Conclave is dead.. That means.. Benjamin. Jonathan._   
"That's horrible!", Nova yelled. "Explain this", the black-haired woman said, grabbing Nova's hand and raising it up. This caused yet another flah of green fire in her hand. "I.. Can't", she hissed between her teeth in agony.   
"You can't?", shouted the black-haired woman, looking like that she was ready to jump on Nova's throat to get the answer she wanted. The other woman, a red-haired one dressed in a hooded chainmail who had arrived at the same time as Nova's interrogator grabbed the hand of the black-haired female.   
"Cassandra, stop. We need her", she said under her breath in a way that made Nova to understand she wasn't supposed to hear the last part of the line. The red-haired woman turned her attention towards Nova.   
"Do you remember what happened?", she asked from her. Vivid images filled Nova's mind. Images of green, gloomy place where she had been chased by gigantic spiders and..   
"A woman?", the red-haired, hooded woman asked Nova after she told her what she remembered. "Do you recall anything else?". Nova shook her head. No, she did not. The black-haired woman referred as Cassandra lifted Nova up.   
"Come, you need to see something.".

She lead her outside. There was a sight Nova could've never imagined to set her eyes on: the sky was torn open, a gigantic cyclone was swooshing over their heads in the same color as the slit in her hand. The sight also seemed to have strange effect on the mark on her hand: the pain hit like a lightning bolt and made Nova scream in agony and srop to her knees. Cassandra gave her some explanation: the thing on the sky was called the Breach. It had been created in the same explosion that had destroyed the Temple of Sacred Ashes and almost everyone who had attended the Conclave, including the Divine Justinia. And how it, if left untouched, could swallow the world whole.   
"We think there might be a connection between the mark in your hand and the Breach", Cassandra said, her attitude a bit calmed. Nova closed her eyes, breathed slowly and felt the anxiety growing within her. _I'll go through all the things happened, but LATER. Right now...  
_ "If there's some way I can help, I will", she said. The relief from the answer was visible from Cassandra's face. "That is... good. We need to get you to the forward camp", she said. She lead Nova through a small village, which she recognized as Haven. She, Benjamin and Jonathan had stopped there to refresh their supplies during their travel to the Conclave. The people of the village had seemed to hate her just for being an outsider even when she had been nothing but a person passing through their village. Now their hate towards her as she walked past them was almost touchable. "They have decided your guilt. They need it", Cassandra explained. "The people of Haven mourn the loss of their most loved Divine, Justinia.".

Cassandra has ordered guards to open the gates so it was possible for them to advance into the valley. As they walked on, Nova asked a few questions about the explosion. How she had survived, what had happened and so on. She even got an explanation on how she's been found:   
"Soldier's said you stepped out of a rift.. And then fell unconcious", Cassandra answered. "You have been asleep since. We were not sure if you'd wake up at all." As they were crossing a bridge to get to the road leading to the forward camp, a huge green blast came down from the sky in front of them. The bridge was cut in half and both Nova and Cassandra fell tumbling down on the ice under the bridge. As they raised their gazes, they noticed that the bast had brought demons with it.   
"Stay  behind me!" Cassandra yelled as she stormed with her sword raised high and her shield held up towards the demon spawned about a hundred meters away. Nova raised herself up and suddenly saw something happening in front of her: from a green puddle of ooze just a step from her legs spawned a demon. She looked around for a weapon. It wasn't needed, she could've fried the demon with her magic without a staff. She just had always felt more content with one. Like a blessing of the Maker himself, she noticed couple of crates next to her. Against those crates stood a staff. A very basic staff, the kind they have in the Circles lying around, just in case somebody breaks the one that has been crafted for them. Nova grabbed the weapon and started to focus creating a spell. As her hand made a twist and her staff hit he ground, the creature in front of her was struck into solid ice. Cassandra had finished up with the demon she had been battling and hit the frozen demon with her sword, shattering it into tiny pieces. They gazed around. No danger in sight. Nova kept her staff tightly in your hand.   
"Drop your weapon. Now", Cassandra ordered Nova, with a sword pointing at her. Thinking about the way to answer, Nova came to a resolution that it was the wisest to object.   
"All right, I'll disarm", she said, lowering herself ready to drop the staff to the ground, all the time keeping her eyes fixed on Cassandra.   
"Wait", Cassandra suddenly said. "You need a weapon. I can't protect you, nor expect you to be defenseless. After all, I should remember you agreed to come willingly.". Surprised, Nova shifted the staff to be against her back. It felt familiar and good to have a space that had felt empty filled, as she had been used to carrying a staff while in the Circle. Cassandra handed her a couple of potions.   
"Take these, you will need them.". She pointed at the road starting at the riverbend in front of them. "This will lead us to our destination. Let us keep travelling."


	2. You and I, always enemies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The lyrics of the day are from Takida's song Silence Calls.  
> This chapter was a bitch to write. It's been lying unfinished since the day I published the first chapter, and even when finished, I'm not happy with it. I just want to get the story past the prologue part and start throwing in my own headcanons and back stories. Said things will appear already in the next chapter, which has been more ready than this one for almost a week. It will be out.. At some day, I think?

They kept on walking up. As they faced more demons falling from the Breach, Nova could sense Cassandra getting more relaxed around her outside battles. She had been a little stiff about Nova being a mage and kept her guard efficiently up, but as they once again killed an enemy with cooperation, she had started to warm up a bit. Still, Nova noticed Cassandra gave her some cold glances whenever she thought Nova wasn't looking. They agreed to walk some time in silence. However, the world around them didn't think so.   
"I can hear the fighting", Cassandra said as they were about to reach something that looked like a bigger landing on the uphill.   
"Who's fighting?", Nova asked.   
"You'll see soon. We have to help them", was the answer she got from Cassandra. As Cassandra ran to the thick of the battle, Nova stayed a bit aside, watching the battlefield, htting the demons and trying to avoid strucking anyone who looked like they would be allies fighting on the same side. She noticed there was another mage. An elf, fighting towards a wraith. As the wraith dissolved into smoke form the elf's succesful hit, he turned his eyes, saw Nova and froze. She looked around. _Is there something behind me?_ She found nothing, but as she turned to face the elf again, she noticed something was about to attack him. A demon ready to strike stood behind his back. Nova knew she had to help him, and ran towards him. She distracted the demon with a strategically placed fireball, careful not to hit the elf. Her movement had seemed to wake the elf up from his stasis and he was once again in the battle. As Nova turned the demon into ice, the elf struck it down with a lightning bolt and the demon was dead.    
"Quickly, before more demons appear!" the elf yelled to her, grabbed her marked hand and pointed it towards the rift. All of the sudden, the slit in her hand started glowing, a connection was formed between the rift and her hand and the rift slowly seemingly disappeared into the mark. Her hand went numb. As soon as the rift was gone and the place where it had been filled with nothing but air, the elf let go his grip of her hand and she yanked it away. "What did you do?" she asked him a bit fearfully.   
"I did nothing. The credit is yours", the elf answered with a courteous smile. "It seems like you hold the key to our salvation."   
"Well that's just grand. Here I thought we'd be ass-deep in demons forever", another voice said behind Nova. She turned around to look for the source of the voice, and was suprised to see a dwarf with an enormous crossbow standing behind her. The dwarf introduced himself as Varric. The elf saw his chance for the introduction and told Nova that his name was Solas. Despite Cassandra's grunting-form protest, the two joined Cassandra and Nova. The dwarf had told them that Cassandra's soldiers weren't in control of the valley anymore and that they would need all the help they could get.

As they reached the forward camp, Cassandra lead Nova towards a table. Behind the said table stood the red-haired woman, whom Nova had seen earlier in the cell she had awoken in, and a man in Chantry uniform. As soon as they reached the table, the man ordered Cassandra to chain Nova and take her to Val Royeaux to be executed. This made Cassandra furious, and she claimed that the man had no stand to order her to do anything. They had a heated argument. Nova looked around bit awkwardly.   
"Isn't the Breach a more important concern?", she asked. The man, now identified as Chancellor Rodrick, looked at her furiously and opened up his mouth to say something, but was shot down by Cassandra's icy look.   
"Yes, what matters now is that we get you to the Breach. We have two options. We can either take the mountain path, in which several of our soldiers disappeared in, or storm to the temple with our remaining soldiers. The choice is yours", Cassandra said, turning to Nova.   
"Wait, what?", Nova asked. "You're asking for my opinion?"   
"Yes. It is you who we need to get alive to that mountaintop, so I thought you may have something to say about the matter", Cassandra answered.   
"Take the straightest way to the temple. If there have already gone soldiers missing on that mountain, I won't live long enough for your trial", Nova said after a while of thinking.

Reaching the battlefield, they were greeted with a blast. A battle raged on a clearing in front of them, and dead and injured soldiers laid all around them. The green glow filled the area. _Not this again._ As they rushed to the battlefield, they saw the few remaining soldiers fighting for their lives. Nova tried to concentrate all her remaining energy getting her spells hit the foes instead of friends. The rift in the sky kept whooshing and the whole world was nothing but flashing lights. When it finally came the time to close the rift, Nova raised her hand, sucked the magic in and collapsed to the ground. Quickly she raised herself into a sitting position and leaned her hands to her knees. Cassandra approached her, but Nova dismissed her with a move of her hand indicating that everything was okay, she just needed some time to breathe. One of the soldiers, a man who Nova noticed from the corner of her eye to be in somehow different armor, fighting walked to Cassandra.   
"Commander, this is the prisoner", she introduced Nova.   
"Oh? I hope they're right about you. We've lost a lot of lives trying to get you here", the man said.   
"Yeah", Nova said, gasping for air, "I hope.. that too.". Solas helped Nova up her her feet and she faced the human man in front of her. She took a second to examine the man: he was relatively handsome, with golden hair and a scar on his upper lip. Something about him seemed off, though. Nova couldn't exactly pinpoint what. Cassandra exchanged a few words with the man.  After the commander had gone to help his remaining soldiers off the field, Cassandra waved at Nova to follow her. They climbed over a fallen wall made of bricks and arrived to an area, which Nova shockingly discovered to be full of burnt corpses.   
"This is where our soldiers found you. They said you stumbled from a rift.. And then fell unconcious", Cassandra explained as they walked towards few walls left standing,  while avoiding stepping on the scorched bodies.

As they arrived to a small balcony-type railing, Nova raised her eyes up. Where once had been a roof was now only a view towards the gray sky and the raging Breach.    
"How exactly am I supposed to get up there?", she asked.  Before Cassandra had time to answer, Leliana, who had arrived seemingly from nowhere, interrupted her.    
"We don't expect you to close the Breach the way you did with the earlier rifts. Just the smaller rift below it. Solas thinks it might be the key factor to closing the Breach itself", she said. Nova sighed.   
"All right, I'm ready. Let's do this.". She grapped the staff from her back and bounced herself over the railing to the open area housing the rift what look like being asleep.  
"We need you to open this rift", Solas explained. "It is in a stasis right now, but once opened, demons may pour in. However, it is required so we can properly seal the rift."   
"I said, I'm ready", Nova answered and pointed her hand towards the sky. The rift once again found a connection with the mark and exploded open, breaking the cocoon it had seemed to be in. Then, all of a sudden, the air was filled with voices. Memories of the things happened here On top of them all, there was a woman's voice screaming: "Someone help me!". This startled Cassandra.  
"That was the Divine!", she shoued, her eyes open wide. Nova was about to say something, when another voice flowed into their ears. Her own.   
"What's going on here?", Nova's own voice asked. Cassandra grabbed Nova's collar.   
"Why did the most Holy call on you? What happened here?", Cassandra inquired with fire in her eyes.   
"I can't remember!", Nova yelled at her and ripped herself off Cassandra's grasp. Cassandra took her sword and pointed it to Nova.   
"You are lying", Cassandra said with determination. Just as she was about to attack Nova, another voice came audible. It was booming, deep and unregocnizable as anyone Nova had ever known, and it seemed to fill the air.   
"What is the mage doing here?", the voice asked. "Kill her!". What had been a nearly closed rift, dissolved into green tear on the sky again, and a massive demon materialized under it. _Shit shit shit shiiiiiit._ Using whatever little strength she had gathered, Nova tried to turn the beast in front of her to ice. It didn't work. _Why doesn't it work?_   
"We must strip it's defenses! Wear it down", Cassandra cried from the other side of the battlefield. _Right._ Nova pointed her hand towards the rift again. While the green light emerged from the rift, the demon collapsed to it's knees. This was a sign for everyone fighting at the field to attack the moster, and suddenly it was being overwhelmed from arrows, swords, daggers and spells trying to break it. Everything was happening very fast, and every time Nova saw the demon getting strength, she would once again disturb the rift and dispel the demon's barriers. And all of a sudden, the demon laid dead. Nova knew that now was her chance to seal the rift, and she pointed her hand towards the sky once more. She saw the light flow between her mark and the rift, felt the pressure in her hand and then.. Everything went dark.


	3. I will remeber your light

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title lyrics are from Bleachers - Like a River Runs.

Images flashed in front of Nova's eyes. Faces of her parents, friends from the Circle, childhood pets.. Suddenly the pictures stopped changing, and a memory began to play. Two young children, both of them seemingly less than six years old, sat on a grass in a secluded castle courtyard, a girl and a boy. Both of them had green eyes, olive skin, brown hair and a slight set of freckles. Twins, no doubt. Between them was a very little, very ordinary wildflower. The girl stared at the wildflower with a determined look on her face and the boy watched the sight in awe. The girl snapped her chubby little fingers and the flower turned into solid ice. The boy clapped his hands in excitment.   
"Do it again!", he giggled. The girl was searching for another target, when there was a shout coming from one of the doors leading to the courtyard: "Catherine! Benjamin! Come inside, it's time for supper!". The boy raised up and started running towards the woman who had made the voice. The girl picked up the flower she had frozen and followed the boy soon after. The woman standing on the door bent down to one knee and opened her arms to catch the two children running towards her into an embrace. The kids gave the woman a hug, and the girl raised her hand towards the woman, revealing the frozen flower in her hand.   
"Mommy, look what I did!", she said excited. The woman's eyes widened in horror. The pictures in Nova's head started flipping again, going through faces, places and freezed moments from her life before the Conclave. One of the moments came alive in front of her eyes again. The setting was a great hall with enormous windows and walls that seemed to go on for eternity. Young girl, about the age of eighteen, stood against a wall, her hands crossed across her chest, her long brown hair flowing down her back and her head turned to face another girl next to her. Both of the girls were smiling, and the brown-haired girl said something to the other girl what made her laugh. On the other side of the room, what seemed like an infinity away from the girls, stood a young man dressed in a templar armor. He stood up from the crowd in many ways. Not only was he almost a head taller than the other men around him, he also had a striking red, messy hair that was very dofferent from the sleek-combed hairstyles of the other templars around him. The young man turned his gaze towards the side of the room where the girls stood. And as faith had it dictated, the brown-haired girl turned her eyes towards the young man at the exact same time. Their looks met, and they both gave each other a smile. The image of the red-haired templars wide smile dissolved into the blackness, and the blackness was all what Nova saw. But she also heard noises. She was awake. She didn't open her eyes yet. _What a horrible dream I had. The Conclave had exploded and everyone was dead but me._ The dream had left her feel uneasy. She made a mental note to give Benjamin a hug later that day: in her dream he had been dead and it had made her very sad to even think about it. She lifted her hand off her stomach and touched the blanket under her. _This is not my bed._ The thought hit her like a lightning and her eyes flew open. She wasn't in the Circle. She was in a strange wooden cottage. She laid on a bed that seemed to be one of the few furniture in the room. Near her was a table on which there was a note signed by Cassandra. "When you wake up, meet us in the Chantry. At once!". The last two words were heavily underlined. Nova raised herself up to a sitting position on the side of the bed and rubbed her forehead. _So it all was real after all._ She could feel a light pounding in her head, like a tiny man hitting his tiny hammer against her temples. She looked around in the room. It was a bit grim, being equipped with only the necessities. A bed, a table, a bookshelf holding a couple of books. Another note sat on the table, next to the one she had seen after waking up. She read the other note: it was written by somebody who had sat next to Nova while she had been asleep - ar least, such conclusion could be made looking at the style of the text. It described a glowing wound in the patient's hand and the said patient's deep, almost coma-like sleep. The little man with his hammer in Nova's head still hadn't take a break, but she decided to get up from the bed and out of the door. The bright light of the outside world was very different to the dim lightning of the cabin she had stepped out from. It took Nova's eyes some blinking and squinting to get used to the brightness, but as soon as she could saw clearly she was faced with a great suprise: people of Haven had all gathered outside the cabin Nova had been sleeping in, and were now staring at her with widened eyes. There were some whispers in the crowd: "She stopped the Breach of getting any bigger", _I did?_ , "She was the one who killed the great demon", _it was me?_ , "That's her, that's the Herald of Andraste", _I'm a WHAT now?_. The people made room for Nova when she walked among them, letting her walk past them towards the Chantry sitting on the top of a small hill.

After entering the Chantry, Nova heard distant arguing, a male and female voices, from somewhere inside the building. A male voice she recognized as Chancellor Rodrik, the man Nova had met on the forward camp before they had given a try of closing the Breach. The female voice spitting counter arguments was Cassandra.   
"I saw with my own eyes what happened at the temple!", Nova heard a muffled sound yelling. "The Divine called out to her!". Nova slammed the door open. Cassandra and the chancellor turned their heads to face her.   
"Chain her!", the chancellor ordered the soldiers standing on both sides of the doorframe.   
"Dismiss that, and leave us", Cassandra said. The soldiers bowed and left the room. The chancellor shot murder eyes to Cassandra.   
"You are not exactly proving your case here, Seeker", he said and Cassandra grunted at him.  
"I overheard what you said. You don't believe I'm quilty?", Nova asked and looked at Cassandra. Cassandra took a deep breath.   
"I may have misjudged you. I may not even be correct now, but I am willing to give you a chance. That mark in your hand.. It did something to the Breach, and I believe it is possible that it will do more.". The chancellor pointed his finger at Nova.   
"I do not! What you did might have been fool's luck, but I strongly disagree with letting you go free just in case you might be lucky again!"   
"Calm down, chancellor. I too was in the temple", a sound came from a dark corner. Leliana approached from the shadows.   
"We all heard the voices. Whatever they might have been: echoes from the past, sounds from the Fade.. It made it clear that this woman is not quilty. However", she said and gave the chancellor a side-way glance, "the one who was, might still live. Or have contacts outside the Conclave."   
"I am a suspect but not her?", the chancellor asked.   
"Exactly", Leliana confirmed his suspections.   
"So I suggest you keep quiet, leave the prisoner alone and let us proceed as we planned."   
"And what is THAT exactly?", the chancellor inquired. Cassandra arrived from a bookshelf in front of which she had spent some time, and slammed a heavy-looking book to the table. The book had a burning eye with a sword on its cover.   
"This. And you know what this is. This gives us authority to form the Inquisition, to find the one's fighting for peace and unite them under a single banner."   
"I refuse to take part to any of this!", the chancellor shouted, walked to the door and slammed it shut behind him. Leliana ran her finger across the leathery cover of the massive book.   
"We're not ready", she said her voice silent, almost a whisper.   
"We do not have the forces, we do not have the leader.."   
"But we have her", Cassandra said and turned to face Nova. "You are just what we need if we are to have any chance to restore order in this world gone mad. Are you with us?"   
"You are asking me, so I assume I have a chance not be part of this?", Nova demanded.   
"You can leave, if you want to", Leliana assured her without raising her eyes from the book. "But I must warn you. In the eyes of many you are still the most logical suspect for what happened at the Conclave. If you are with us, we can protect you. Let's call it...", Leliana said and rose her eyes to watch Nova in the eyes, ".. A mutual benefit." Nova swallowed.   
"This certainly was not what I expected when I woke up", she said. Cassandra shook her head.   
"Neither did we.". She streched out her hand to Nova.   
"So, what will it be?". Nova took Cassandra's hand and shook it.   
"What comes of this, remains to be seen", Cassandra said, and Nova nodded her head in agreement.


	4. It's time to begin, isn't it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title lyrics from Imagine Dragons - It's Time.

What followed was a mess. Everything around Nova just changed: the villagers who had hated her and been hostile towards her now feared and respected her, flags with Inquisition's mark filled Haven and preparations for new arrivals were made: apparently, there were many people expected to arrive to Haven soon, mostly traders and other merchants. Nova figured that until orders telling otherwise were given, it was best for to just stay out of the way. She looked for Varric with lots of questions in her mind: outside Cassandra and Leliana, the dwarf seemed to have the most knowledge of what was happening. Nova found Varric from a camp formed from few tents, right outside the Chantry. He greeted her with polite friendliness in his voice.   
"So, how are you holding up? The stuff that's been happening to you.. I know Champion of Kirkwall and even she would've spread that for more than just one day", Varric said. Nova closed her eyes and shook her head.   
"Honestly? This all just feels like complete bullshit. I'm still not sure what happened and if it was my fault or not.. It's just been a really rough day." Varric snorted.   
"Now that I can believe." Nova shifted weight from her right foot on her left in awkward silence that followed.   
"You.. You said that you know the Champion of Kirkwall. So, are you THE Varric Tethras, the one who wrote 'The Tale of the Champion'?", she decided to ask him.   
"At your service, my lady", the dwarf said and made a courteous bow. Nova's eyes brightened.  
"Oh, so it is you! I read your book before I had to leave for the Conclave, and I have so many questions", she said with an excited voice. A bit ashamed of her enthusiasm, she blushed and coughed a bit afterwards. Her excitness, however, seemed to entertain Varric, who smiled and answered: "Anything for my fans.". Nova smiled back at him.   
"So, first of all. Where's Hawke and all her friends now?". Evading the first question, Varric jumped to tell about Hawke's associates.   
"Hawke's brother Carver is somewhere wardening - or I don't know what the correct term is, I just heard that one from somewhere and thought it was a good one so I've used it to describe when one's a Grey Warden and they're somewhere doing something - right now. Sebastian packed his bags and left for Starkhaven soon after the Chantry explosion. He and Hawke are still married, and despite the talk there's been about making some apostate babies to possibly inherit the throne of Starkhaven and send yet another Free Marches' city state into a chaos, they haven't gotten around to actually do it yet. Merrill has taken the homeless elves of Kirkwall under her wing. Fenris has become some sort guardian angel for refugees who slavers from Tevinter are trying to exploit. That is, if by 'guardian angel' you mean someone who kills the one's threatening the innocents. Isabela is back being a pirate again. Apparently, she has her own ship and crew now, good for her. And Aveline.. Were it not her, they wouldn't have been a Kirkwall for Hawke to become a Champion in for a long time. So she's still at the city, trying to do there what I like to think I'm trying to do here: try to help fixing the mess Anders left behind.". "Interesting. But you still didn't answer to the question where Hawke herself is", Nova pointed out. Varric looked past her.   
"I'd always like to discuss with my readers, but Seeker is heading to this way  looking like she's ready to tear the whole place apart.. Of course, I could just be confusing it to the basic look on her face", he answered, and not many seconds after, a hand appeared on Nova's shoulder.   
"If I could ask you to come with me", Cassandra said and Nova turned around. "There's something we should discuss."

 

Gesturing at Nova to follow her, Cassandra lead her back to the Chantry and to the room where they had agreed on Nova's and the Inquisition's liaison. Only this time there were more people. There were three people gathered around the table on which Cassandra had slammed the massive book that had set in motion something apparently nobody could've predicted. Across the table were spread a massive map. Leliana, one of the three people gathered behind the table, was looking at it. Next to Leliana stood the tall blond man Nova had seen earlier when she had been just a prisoner with a curious mark in her hand, the one who would either help to close the tear in the sky or die trying. The third one was a dark woman with her black hair on a hairdo telling about her nobler background. The woman was the first one to greet Nova as she entered the room with Cassandra. Cassandra introduced her as Josephine Montilyet, the ambassodor of the Inquisition. _Montilyet, Montilyet.. I'm pretty sure I know that name._ The blond man, now formally introduced as knight-commander Cullen, said hello to Nova and told her that he was pleased to see her still living after their quick encounter at the field. Nova was still suspicious. _Knight-Commander, huh? A templar rank._ After telling about Leliana's position as the Inquisition's spymaster, Cassandra pointed a location at the map.   
"This place is called Hinterlands", she said and drew a circle on her finger around the location's name on the map. "It includes the village of Redcliffe, the Crossroads and Lake Luthias. We've been getting reports about a revered mother helping the refugees there. We need you to go and try to talk to her about joining forces with us. Leliana can explain you more, if you have questions.": Leliana nodded. Nova looked around, confused.   
"Oh, yes, I do. Why in the Maker's name would a revered mother help us? From what I've heard, the Chantry would much rather deny our existence.."   
"Actually, they have denounced us, and declared us heretics. You, especially", Josephine said informatively.   
"Uh, thanks. My question still stands. Why?", Nova asked. Leliana shrugged her shoulders.   
"Perhaps Mother Giselle thinks differently to her colleagues. Who knows? Most importantly, this is a chance to create a connection and we think we should grab it."   
"Will I be going alone?" Nova asked and looked around nervously.Cassandra placed her hand on Nova's shoulder.   
"Do not worry. I will come with you", she said.

 

A pleasant spring wind blew on Nova's face and swung the long coat the Inquisition's blacksmith had equipped her with. They  had arrived at the Hinterlands late last night, and right after they had made camp, Nova had crawled into her tent and fell asleep before her head even hit the pillow. In the darkness it had been a bit unclear where exactly they were, just that the Crossroads had to be near. While Nova was eating her porridge, she was greeted by a freckled dwarven scout who introduced herself as Scout Lace Harding. Harding told Nova that the Crossroads and Mother Giselle were just an hour away.   
"Everyone is a bit wary about mages right now, but don't worry. You'll get no disrespectful talk here, I promise", Harding added while pointing at Nova's staff.   
"Thanks for the heads-up", Nova said and went looking for Cassandra, Varric and Solas who had accompanied her to Hinterlands. She found Varric reading a letter by his tent. "Hey", Nova greeted him. He startled, turned around and relaxed to see Nova standing behind him.   
"Oh, hey. I thought you were the Seeker. What's up?", Varric asked and folded the letter into his pocket.   
"We're about to leave to search Mother Giselle. You got Bianca ready?", Nova said referring to the dwarf's signature crossbow he carried around like a treasure.   
"Yep, lock and loaded. Ready to shoot some demons or whatever those rifts might spit in our way."   
"Good. Have you seen Solas or Cassandra?", Nova asked and looked around for a sign for the elven mage or the Seeker.   
"Solas? No. The Seeker however was looking for possible routes last time I saw her. She should be by the herbalists' tent", Varric answered. Nova thanked him and walked towards the tents, now accompanied by Varric. Nova found Cassandra crounched over a map of the Hinterlands. She told at Nova that Solas was at the herbalists' tent and pointed at the marquee next to her. Cassandra rolled the map together after showing Nova the path they should follow to find the Crossroads as soon as possible. Together, they walked in the tent. The earthy smell filled the air as Nova lifted slightly the canvas. It was dim inside the tent. However, it was lit with jars full of glowing blue substance, that Nova declared after closer inspection to be deep mushroom. Solas was bend over one of the tables, mixing an orange potion. He noticed Nova arriving and turned to face her. "Here, you should take this with you", he instructed and ordered potion to Nova. She took it on her hand and examined it. "What is this, exactly?", she asked after she opened the cork and sniffed the potion. _Elfroot._   
"It's something that helps the consumer to recover from their wounds slightly faster. I can give the recipe to Adan, the apothecary in Haven, and I could also teach you how to make yourself", Solas said while gathering his thing from the table.   
"Please do", Nova answered and slipped the potion on one of the small bags on her hips, "this sounds very useful".

 

After gathering her team, Nova took off from the camp. Outside the camp area began the wilderness. Every now and then they found mostly abandoned small cabins. As Varric deemed it (and Cassandra agreed with a reluctant grunt) to be honorable enough to take supplies from the cabins since the owners did no longer need them, they picked up money, pieces of clothing and materials left behind. With their bags filled with salvaged goods, they arrived at the Crossroads. Magic was in the air, and it seemed like the templars had noticed it too. At the moment Nova stepped out of a path from the forest, a templar arrow scraped her arm.   
"Prepare your weapons", she said to Cassandra, Varric and Solas. "It seems like we have to fight this place clean".

After taking down the small group of templars guarding a few houses, the mages arrived. They thought Nova and her companions were templars of some sort, and attacked them as well. Killing the resisting mages left a small brief window of time to breathe until Nova and her team found a house filled with templars who charged at them after seeing Nova and Solas' staffs.

"I think it's over", Nova said and took a deep breath leaning on her staff after they had went through the remaining houses in the settlement to make sure they were free of mages and templars.   
"I agree", Cassandra said and sheathed her sword. "Come, let us find Mother Giselle".

 

They found the cleric rather easily. She was sitting by a wounded soldier, who was rather unwilling to get healed by magic. Mother Giselle calmed the man down, explaining to him that in the right hands, magic was nothing to fear of. As Nova arrived to her, the cleric beckoned Nova to follow her to a more quiet place for them to speak in peace.   
"You're not against magic?", Nova asked from Mother Giselle as they walked towards a small clearing opening a view to the village.   
"No. As I said to a patient over there, if used correctly, magic is nothing more but another way to help. Pride is what makes anything dangerous - and it does not restrain it's grasp on only mages", was the answer.   
"I was sent to talk to you, since you are one of the few who have some insight to the Chantry and who are willing to help us", Nova told the cleric. Mother Giselle nodded.   
"Yes. I think your cause is just and that there is potential in your organisation. What I personally think you should do now is that you try to address the remaining clerics gathering at Val Royeaux. Their only strength right now is that they are unified in an opinion of you being the evil they're trying to fight. Make even one of them doubt and you might be one step closer to the Chantry's support". Nova thought about it. _This might not even help._   
"All right. I'll try that", she told her.   
"Good. I will journey to Haven and provide names of the clerics who might join your cause", Giselle said. Nova ran her fingers through her hair. _Maker, what have I stepped into?_


	5. And the world's gonna know my name

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title lyrics: The Script ft. will.i.am - Hall of Fame

After she returned back to Haven, Nova decided to look around for a bit. There had been some time for that between her waking up and the order to go to look for Mother Giselle, but not much. Besides, now that everyone around her had set their sights on the goal of forming the Inquisition, the surroundings looked quite different. Once she had gotten something to eat and refreshed a bit, Nova walked out of the gates leading to the inner village. Just a few meters away from the gates there were soldiers sparring against each other. Giving the soldiers commands was Commander Cullen. Nova walked to him after noticing something in the way the soldiers were ordered to do some things.   
"Putting your templar training to good use?" she asked. Cullen turned to face her.   
"Huh?", he said, dazed.   
"The way you order your men to hold their shields. They are pointing them downwards, as to protect themselves from possible hostile spells", she said, smiling.   
"Good remark. You must've looked very carefully for the templars in the Circle to notice that", he answered, returning the smile.   
"No, actually my brother..." _Is? WAS?_ "..'s a templar", Nova said, deciding that the stage of her brother's aliveness wasn't a business of a stranger she had met only a couple days ago.   
"Really? Noble parents giving two children to the Chantry, one not even a mage. That is not common, but neither is it unheard of", he said.   
"Yeah. We have two older siblings, so our parents already had a heir and a spare when we were born - we're twins, you see - so after I was shipped to the Circle, my brother waited for a few years and then joined me by taking the templar training.". "I'm assuming you both had your fair share of freedoms while living in the Circle?", he asked while glancing every now and then the sparring field behind him.   
"You can say that. We both visited home quite often and were never estranged from our family", she answered.   
"Did you had to leave your family completely behind when you started your training?"   
"Yes. It was quite hard for a young boy. Of course I missed them and of course we wrote letters, but visiting would've been quite hard, considering the distance between Honnleath", he said. "Also there were other boys my age. We were all in the same situation and talking to each other, sharing the experience was comforting", he answered.    
"Yeah, I hear you. Some of the best friends I had in the Circle were the ones I made when I was just a six-year-old who had had to leave her home and family and spent most of her time crying with her favorite stuffed animal. It was easy to make friend of someone who you hear wailing on the top bunk between your sniffing breaks", Nova said. _Antoine._ _A commoner whose mother was an Orlesian maid and father an Ostwickan smith_.. _She was one of those to whom the Circle gave a chance for a life much more luxurious, more educated than the one they could have gotten outside._ She had found herself few times wondering what would've become of her friend. Smart, diplomatic and witty with impressive skills of magic - the world of positions that a mage could acquire had been open for her. And then she had been sent to the Conclave.   
  
"We are leaving for Val Royaeux in an hour. Be ready", were the first words that were said to Nova as she stepped into the Chantry later that afternoon.   
"Wait, what?", she asked. "You heard me", Cassandra said while preparing herself for traveling.   
"Mother Giselle gave us the infromation about the clerics, we are going to use it as soon as possible. We are going to Val Royeaux and show the clerics that you are just a person like everyone else and hope that makes some of them even a bit doubtful"  
"Okay, that sounds solid", Nova whispered under her breath. Cassandra stopped, obviously hearing what Nova just said.   
"Are you questioning me?", she inquired.   
"No, no, no! I'm just saying that the chance that those people you are talking about will even listen to us is quite slim, don't you think?", Nova said. Cassandra ran her fingers through her hair and sighed.   
"I am aware of that. But it is not like our other chances are great either. We are hoping that if we show them that you are in fact just a person like the rest of them, some of them will gain doubt towards the Chantry's official opinion and spread discontent"   
"This might not even work", Nova told Cassandra, who took a thoughtful pause as if to say a counter-argument but nothing came out of her mouth expect "Let's just get moving".

" _How did I get in this situation again?_ " Nova found herself wondering as she tried to go through everything that had happened since arriving to the gates of Summer Bazaar in val Royeaux. The Chantry had given the Inquisition no support and the cleric leading the rally against the Inquisition had called Nova an 'evil sorceress'. Everything had seemed to be a chaos even before the templars had arrived and announced that they were leaving the Chantry too. As Nova and her team had tried to leave the scene, a mysterious arrow with a message had struck down on Nova's feet, encouraging her to look for red handkerchief's with cryptical messages around the Summer Bazaar. The messages had led Nova to a lonely courtyard and now.. "I'd like to join. So, what it'll be?" the young female elf standing in front of Nova asked. The elf had introduced herself as Sera, and as far as Nova was concerned, she worked bow rather well. Sera was twirling an arrow between her fingers as Nova asked her some questions about what was this 'Friends of Red Jenny' organization Sera claimed belonging to. The answer was that it helped the servants, cooks and such, 'little people' as Sera called them, fight back to their oppressors of noble origin. "Okay, yeah, I think the Inquisition could use your contacts", Nova said.   
"Yes!", Sera exclaimed, "I'll see you in Haven". "Do you need transportation or guidance?" Nova asked her. Sera scoffed. "Please. I know my way around", she said and disappeared into the shadows.   
"Well, wasn't that a rather.. illustrious individual", Nova said and turned to Cassandra, Varric and Solas. Varric rolled his eyes and smirked.   
"Well, that's certainly one way to put it."   
"Speaking of 'illustrious individuals', I think we have yet to meet one for today", Cassandra said and pointed at a creased letter poking out of Nova's satchel.   
"Oh yeah, I had almost forgotten about that", Nova said and dug out the letter that a Circle Mage Messenger had handed to her at the Summer Bazaar. "It would in fact seem like we have one 'Vivienne de Fer' to meet today. Ah, and it's a salon! I haven't attended to one of those in ages!"


	6. In a blink of an eye I never got to say goodbye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just in case I managed to fuck up writing a healthy sibling relationship in comparison to a romantic relationship between two inviduals who are NOT related to each other, I want to mention that there is absolutely NO incest in this fic.  
> Not... ever. - Alistair Theirin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title lyrics from Simple Plan's Gone Too Soon.

"Lady Trevelyan?", a voice asked. After being awoken from what had been couple hours of restless sleep, Nova opened her eyes slightly and saw one of the Inquisition's scouts, a young elven boy no more than sixteen years, standing next to her bed. "What?", she murmured, yawning a bit afterwards.   
"There's something you should see. But is this a bad time?", the scout inquired.   
"No, just wait a bit, I'll change into something more appropriate", Nova answered, getting out of her bed. "If you'd mind to wait outside, I'd appreciate it", she said smiling when she noticed the elf's lingering presence.   
"Oh! Of course, my lady!", the boy answered, flushing red all over his face. As the scout left her cabin, Nova changed into her armor. It was a curious thing to wear: made of numerous pieces of fabric, none of which seemed to be connected to each other but still together formed an armor practical enough to keep away frostbites from the cold weather and small burns from hostile firespells.

Outside, the elven boy stood obediently waiting for Nova, and as she stepped put of her cabin, the boy straightened his back.   
"Lady Trevelyan, if you'd follow me", he said, gesturing her to the gates. He lead her out if the gates and to a path leading out of Haven.   
"So, what's this thing I need to see? Also, where are we going?", Nova asked after they had climbed some way uphill through a forest.   
"We are heading to the bridge", the scout said. Nova knew what bridge he was talking about. It was from some distance of Haven, and it was visible on a clear day right when one stepped out of the village's gates.   
"As to what I need to show you...", he continued, "I think it is better you'll see it yourself.". Cold shivers ran through Nova's body. _What's going on?_

They arrived to the bridge, and a cruelsome sight awaited Nova. Rows and rows of still figures rolled into white fabric laid on the bridge, some of them boarded into a carriage, the others waiting for their turn. _The dead of the Conclave._ A realization hit her. _I know why I am here._ The scout lead her to the other side of the bridge, where seemed to be the place where the newest bodies were brought. Another Inquisition scout, a female dwarf, was finishing wrapping up another body. Nova caught a quick climpse of the corpse. No features were visible: the flesh had burned onto the body, forming a brown and cracking cover on top of the bones. As they reached one of the bodies, the elven scout stopped and turned to face Nova.  
"This one was a young templar", he explained, "on his neck there was a necklace with your family's coat of arms in it. Lady Nightingale thought this might be your ladyship's deceased brother. I am sorry for your loss". The elf said the words in a way that made it seem like he had said similar words over and over again, which he probably had done, showing the bodies to the grieving family members coming to visit Haven in a search of their lost loved ones.  
Nova wondered where Leliana had found out about Benjamin, but she shrugged it off as one of those things Leliana just knew as a spy master. Leliana had had a right idea: this really was someone really important for Nova, but her brother never had the need of carrying their family crest around his neck. Everyone knew he was a Trevelyan just by the look of him: the olive skin was common in northern Thedas, red-brown hair was common in northern Thedas, but them together spiced up with a face full of freckles could be a physical feature of no other than a Trevelyan. No, this body was not Nova's brother. It was Jonathan, her first love. A young templar from the Ostwick Circle whom with Nova had a had an illicit affair.

She remembered the words Jonathan had said to her as she had given him the necklace. "I'll keep this safe for you". She remembered the lines of his face, the mess of his red hair when he snuck out to meet her in the morning while the mages and templars alike all slept, the feeling of his lips against hers whenever there was a chance to steal one of those so rare kisses, how his lips curved with every loving smile he gave to Nova... And top of it all, she remembered the last time she ever saw him. What he had looked like as he had escorted Nova in the Temple of Sacred Ashes to where the other mages were and how, despite the professional look he was forced to play in front of people, he had quickly squeezed her hand, promising to see her once this was all over. Nova lowered down on one knee and took the necklace around the neck the white-fabric-wrapped body on her un-marked right hand. It too had suffered damage and was blackened, even a bit melted around the edges, but the coat of arms of House Trevelyan was still clearly visible. She brushed the metallic plate with her finger. She lowered her hand and took it behind the body's neck, where she unlocked the necklace. Nova closed the necklace in her fist. "I'll keep this safe for you", she said and felt the words choking in her throat.

  
Nova was just about to walk away when all of a sudden, a tiny detail caught her attention. It would've been more likely that she hadn't noticed it. On one of the bodies there was a little unburned spot just above the ankle, remains of what had mostly likely been a sock. In the small piece of fabric Nova read three letters: B, A and T. When Nova's brother Benjamin had joined the Templar Order, Nova and Benjamin's mother had been very proud. So proud, that when Benjamin visited home for the first time after he had left and told their mother that every templar must have their initials embroided in their clothing, she had ordered her whole family into sewing the three first letters from names Benjamin Andreas Trevelyan into a bunch of white socks, undershirts and smallclothes. Nova, who had been allowed to visit home alongside her soon-to-be-templar brother, had wanted to mess with Benjamin a bit and sewn every letter with different colored thread, forming a miniature rainbow of red, yellow and blue.  
From the scorchn fabric Nova regocnized her own handiwork and when the epiphany dawned upon her, she cried "Benny" from the top of her lungs and fell to her knees. Tears started falling from her eyes, blurring her vision. "Oh.. Maker", she sobbed.

Nova moved her hand to the wrapping around the head of the body, to see her twin brother one last time. Just when she was about to start unwrap the white covers, a small voice inside her head told her to stop. "You saw the body of another one who was in the Conclave. Do you really want your last memories of Benjamin's face be similar like in that body before?", the voice asked. _No. I don't._ She knew that now was the time for last goodbye: the last words she would ever say to the one she had grew up with, the one who had always been there to tease her, but to always keep her safe as well, to protect her from the older boys trying to bully her. Between her sniffs, it was hard to speak, but she managed to get the only words that mattered out.   
"Good night, Benny", Nova whispered, rose up and walked away.

 

Later, Varric found Nova from the tavern leaned over a table with a mug in front of her.   
"Hey, don't usually see you here", the dwarf greeted her and sat on the opposite sade of the table, "What's up?"  
"Trying to forget things", Nova murmured. "I heard alcohol's pretty good at that. It just hasn't kicked in just yet". Varric grabbed Nova's tankard and sniffed it.   
"Apple cider? You have to keep drinking lots of this stuff if your goal is a good blissful state of drunkness. I don't even know why you human's keep drinking this lame piss. If one wants to have a good time, one should not have to drink a keg to get even a little bit buzzed". Nova grunted and took her mug back.   
"Well, I'm sorry if my choice of drink does not reach your standards. I'm kinda new to this whole alcohol-thing". Varric snorted.   
"Wait, is this your first time getting drunk?", he asked.   
"I'm a Circle Mage, what do you think? It's not like there were bottles lying around in our quarters", she answered and emptied her half-empty mug with a one chug, making a face afterwards.   
"Usually I would not even consider doing something so cruel for a first-time drinker, but since you clearly have something you desperately want to get away from your mind, I'm doing an exception. Wait here", Varric said and left.

He came back a few minutes after with a small flagon with him.   
"This is dwarven ale. It may taste horrible, but I can tell you, when a human drinks it, it is a guaranteed drunk", he said while pouring some to Nova's tankard. "Drink up". The drink had a bitter taste and it burned Nova's throat, but she obliged.

And as Nova woke up next morning with the headache and the nausea of her first hangover, she knew she had found herself first friend within the Inquisition. And as she stepped out of her cabin and heard the first snickering noises and mocking imitations of her drunken voice saying "Do not worrrry my dwarrrrven frriend I can walk jusssst FINE", she knew that she was going to kill that forementioned friend.

 


	7. I'll walk with him 'til morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title lyrics from the musical Les Misérables and the song On My Own.

The crackling of the fire was the only sound in the quiet, cold winter night. Nova sat on one of the benches surrounding the pit of fire and watched the play of the flames. She wasn't used to such an absolute silence. In the Circle, there was always some noises, even in the middle of the night: templars in night shifts chatting in hallways, someone couple bunks away practicing spells under their blanket, friends quietly sharing secrets and having little sleepovers by fitting themselves into a bed meant for only one person. Nova closed her eyes and breathed in the fresh, sharp air. Somewhere behind her was a noise. A noise that probably would've left unnoticed during the daytime because of its mundane nature, but by night it was very disturbing. It was the sound of Haven Chantry's massive hardwood doors opening. Nova turned her head and saw Cullen stepping out of the Chantry, trying to close the doors behind him as quietly as possible. He was wearing his usual feather-pauldroned coat, but this time without the plate armor underneath it. Nova would've never admitted it, but she liked the view of him in his undershirt. Cullen walked towards the fire pit.   
"Hello", he greeted Nova.   
"Hey", she answered, "can't sleep either?"   
"No, it's not that. I do sleep, it's just that nightmares awaken me. It's a side effect... From lyrium", he explained while sitting on a free bench a little bit away from her. From the way he said it, Nova knew that there was something the ex-templar was not telling her, but she let the matter pass for now.   
"For me it's that I don't want to fall asleep. You see, every time I wake up, I imagine waking up back in the Circle. Then the reality hits me and I'm back here again", she sighed, throwing a stick of wood to the fire.  
  
They sat in silence for a little while, staring at the Breach glowing it's haunting green light up in the sky.   
"My brother, the templar", Nova said without taking her gaze off the Breach, "he died at the Conclave". _Why did I say that? The words just slipped out of my mouth..._  
"I.. am sorry for your loss", Cullen said with a surprised tone in his voice, "I had no idea."   
"No one in the Inquisition does, besides Leliana and few of her agents. Neither does my family. I'm afraid to write to them, to tell them this. This is such huge, tragic news, it just feels cruel to tell them in a letter", she said, turning her eyes towards the fire.   
"You could ask for Josephine for advice. Maybe she could send a messenger to tell the news to your family or at least help you with the letter", Cullen advised her.   
"That's not a bad idea", Nova admitted, while biting her lip.   
"Are you okay? I mean, besides your brother's death", Cullen asked her to which she responded with a little shake of her head.

"Actually, I am not. Everyone just expects so much from me, and I don't know if I can reach those expections. And I really miss my brother and all my friends who I lost at the Conclave and..", she said with tears falling from her eyes. Cullen moved closer to her and put his hand over her shoulder.   
"Hey, hey. I can't promise you it'll all be alright or anything, but if you want to talk about it, I'm here", he comforted her. Nova sniffed.   
"Talk about what?"   
"Well, since you miss your family, would you like to talk about them? It might help with the longing. Back in the early days of my templar training, we, the youngest of us, talked about our families to each other when we started to miss them", Cullen answered.   
"Yeah, I think I could do that", Nova answered. "How should I start.. Well, my father is a bann, I have thr... two siblings, a brother and a sister, and the Trevelyans are the seventh most illustrious family of Ostwick. My mother's from Starkhaven. My father's parents decided to have some colour in the familyline, and marrying my dad to a temperemental redhead from Starkhaven really did the trick, both figuratively and physically". Cullen listened with an interested look on his face.   
"Is your mother a Vael?" he asked. Nova shook her head in disagreement, but she took a small thoughtful pause afterwards and lifted her shoulders doubtfully.   
"Not directly, I think. However, as I overheard Josephine say the other day, Thedas' nobility is a rather singular sphere. My older brother Alexander is the heir, and he's married to one of the teyrn Cousland's and the queen of Ferelden's cousins whose name I can't recall right now, I think it started with a C. Claire, maybe? No, Camille? For the life of me, I just can't remember. They've not been married for long. Fun fact: before marrying the unnnamed Fereldan noblewoman, our parents had some kind of arrangements going on and their plan was to marry him to the Champion of Kirkwall, lady Ava Hawke. Of course, that was before she became the Champion. Because you know, her marrying the prince of Starkhaven really threw a wrench to that plan?", Nova said with a quirky smile.   
"That I can imagine", Cullen answered. "I actually attended to their wedding. Officially the reason was that the Champion of Kirkwall was entitled to a templar honor guard attending to her wedding, but considering all the things we had done together through her Kirkwall years, it felt more like being there as a friend", he continued.

"You have to tell me more about the wedding!", Nova said, excited. "I have only heard stories from people who had heard stories from people who knew somebody who had been at the wedding. Did the Champion's mabari really storm inside right when they were cutting the cake and almost knock Hawke off her feet to the cake?"   
"Um.. Yes. The dog had a bite of jealousy after there had been so many requests for the newlyweds to kiss, that he decided to go and give a kiss to his owner as well, as if to remind her new husband who really was THE good boy. Even though she managed to avoid falling on the cake, I'm quite certain she would've just made a joke about the whole thing", Cullen answered, reminiscing the incident.   
"You mentioned you also had a sister?", he asked, changing the subject.   
"Oh, yes. My older sister Emily is everything a lady should be. She's filled with grace and dignity, all of the features I seem to lack. Since she was a child, it was clear that she was the perfect secondary heir: if needed, she would fit in the role of the heir like it was made for her, but also totally fine with just staying as a noble lady and marrying some noble guy. She's sort of to noble women what Vivienne is to Circle mages", Nova told Cullen. Avoiding talking about Benjamin, she moved to the next topic of her family.   
"You know, my name isn't actually Nova."   
"Hm? What do you mean?", he asked, with a bit of curiosity in his voice.   
"Well, it is, but it's.. complicated. When Alexander was born, our parents made a decision that they would give a name fitting for a noble family's child as the first name of their children, but also give them a bit more "commoner" middle name. Just in case the kid decided to ditch the family and go live with someone not nobility... Or just in case they turned put to be mages. It was kind of cruel, but I see their point. That's why my siblings are named Alexander Simon Trevelyan and Emily Moira Trevelyan. And then there's me, Catherine Nova", she said, stretching the name 'Catherine'.   
"Disliking your first name?", Cullen asked when he noticed the tone she said the name.   
"It's not that", Nova answered, "After I left for Circle and everyone around me, excluding my family, decided that it would be better if I started using my middle name, my first name has just hanged in front of my name, reminding me what could've been without the magic."   
"What about your brother, the templar one, did he use his middle name too after taking the vows?", Cullen asked. Nova gulped, because now she had to talk about Benjamin.   
"No. Apparently the same people who decided my name for me also decided that it was okay to be a templar and keep the name, since it was a greater honor than being a mage", Nova said, spitting to the snow afterwards like the words had brought a foul taste to her mouth, "Benjamin Andreas was always Benjamin, and no matter how much he belonged to the Chantry for the rest of his life, his name would not change."                                                                                                     


	8. Skinny love

As the rays of the bright sun of the winter morning hit Nova's eyes and awoke her from her sleep, she knew exactly where she was even before she opened her eyes. Her cabin at Haven, where she lived because she was part of the Inquisition now. The big question was, however, how had she gotten in there. She remembered that she had went to sit by the campfire and that Cullen had joined her and that they had talked for quite some time, she might've cried too... But what she didn't remember how and when she had actually went to her bed. Memories of her leaning her head against the fluffy shoulders of Cullen's coat, the soft feathers tickling her cheek, popped up on her mind. _Could I had fallen asleep by the fire? ...Did Cullen carry me to my cabin?_ The last thought gave Nova a feeling of blood rushing to her cheeks and reddening them. She dismissed the thought in her mind. Surely nothing like that had happened. She came to the conclusion that she had been so tired when she had went to sleep that her mind hadn't even registered what was happening. Besides, it was absurd to think that she would've felt excited for something like that. Only silly little girls with crushes   


As Nova was finishing her morning duties, an Inquisition messenger approached her. Josephine called upon Nova to visit her in her office. Nova obeyed and soon arrived to Josephine's little room where the Antivan woman was already waiting for her.  
"Lady Trevelyan, I have some questions for you", Josephine said, with her writing pad in front of her, ready to jot down notes.  
"Sure", Nova answered. "Hit it. Also, it's just 'Nova'. I am pretty certain formality is energy gone waste up here in the mountains."  
"Oh, you must forgive me, it's a habit that has served me well. You must know something of that, considering you being noble birth."  
"Oh, the frustrated glare I got from my mother whenever I came home and forgot to greet someone with their proper title. I get shivers from just thinking of the disappointed look on her face. So yeah, I know something of that. But, from now on - first-name basis?"  
Josephine nodded with a delighted smile. "Certainly. But if you don't mind, I'd move on to the questions I had in mind."  
"Oh, sure! Didn't mean to distract us from the reason I'm here."   
"Well, for starters, what do you think of your accommodations here in Haven? You must be accustomed to a very different form of living in the Circle", Josephine asked.  
"It has been very odd to sleep alone", Nova admitted. "Nobody snoring from two beds over, waking me up just after I have fallen asleep. Have to admit, that has been affecting to my ability to get a good night's rest - now I actually do."  
Josephine let out a lighthearted chuckle. "Oh, that must've been dreadful to endure for so many years!"  
Nova's mouth turned into a grin. "Yeah, well, we make do with what we got."  
"Indeed we do", Josephine agreed and flipped to a new page on her notes. "I heard from Leliana that your mother is from Starkhaven. Do you think we could contact her family for noble support?"  
 "I guess. I mean, I am my mother's daughter after all, more or less. Not that I've ever had much of a contact to that side of the family, though."  
"Why's that?" Josephine inquired.  
"I don't know. I guess it's the distance mostly, but might as well that they did not wish anything to do with a relative who's a mage", Nova answered, rolling her eyes a bit. "Noble families are funny that way."  
Josephine tsked. "Ah. I see. What about your paternal family?"  
"Yeah, the Trevelyans always took this whole mage-thing better than mother's side. They're still highly religious people, and I think they and Chantry come in  a 'buy-one-get-another-on-the-house" -deal. And since we're basically, what's the word the clerics used to describe us, 'heretics'..."  
"...It is likely that your family wants nothing to do with us either", Josephine sighed, and her reaction was something Nova interpreted as the Antivan's suffocated urge to roll her eyes as it would not be fitting for a noble lady.  
"We can still ask. My grandparents have always been fond of me - I'm sure there are other branches in the family tree who won't believe the Chantry's slander either", Nova assured her.  
The corners of Josephine's lips turned up. "Splendid."  


It was no sooner than the moment Nova had stepped outside from the calming dimness of the Chantry to the outside's blinding light, when a messenger approached her with a message from Scout Harding. Nova ripped the envelope open and read the lines written with splotched ink on a crumpled paper, the dampness of the letter's origin almost touchable. Nova sighed and stuffed the letter on her breast pocket. _Time to get to work then._ But before leaving, she decided to rid the back of her head from nagging feeling of unsureness.

Nova made her way to the training grounds, where Cullen stood watching over the recruits. _Maker, does this man do anything else?_ She walked behind him and gently tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around a bit startled but with his expression softening as soon as he recognized Nova as the mysterious attacker.    
"Uh, so, sorry. But I just have to ask. It has been bothering me for some time now. Is there... any possibility you carried me to my bed after we sat out by the fire the other night?" Nova spurted out, avoiding Cullen's eyes in embarrassment. _Why did I say anything?_  
Cullen awkwardly rubbed his neck. "I... I did. You fell asleep with your head against my shoulder and I would've felt awful to wake you up since you obviously were very tired."  
"Oh. Well, thank you", Nova said, feeling the redness creep up on her cheeks again.  
"It was no problem", Cullen assured her. "I should probably get back to my duties", he continued, shuffling his hand clumsily towards the training field behind him.  
"Ah, yes, of course", Nova coughed and straightened her position. "I should probably get going too, have to travel today. Something's going on in this marsh called Fallow Mire. They're asking the Herald to the rescue."  
"So it's a normal day for you then?" Cullen chuckled.  
Nova rolled her eyes with a quirky smile on her face. "More or less these days."

**Author's Note:**

> Find me from Tumblr in   
> barkspawnvevo.tumblr.com


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